Monday, November 17, 2014

Hello Jiating and Pengyoumen :)

 

This was a crazy crazy week.  One of the things I learned is that God protects His missionaries... if you're not doing anything stupid.  Friday we had interviews with the Mission President and on our way there me and a car crashed into each other.  Part of his front end was torn off and his light was crushed...but me and my bike were fine.  The only thing that happened to me was I got a small bruise on my heel and the chain on my bike fell off. Honestly, I shouldn't have been able to walk away from that, but I did! 

 

After Interviews we went to the train station and went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, so I was in Hualien for a day.  It's pretty similar to Taidong, but more city-like.  I went to SUBWAY for dinner :) and I also had ice cream from McDonalds.  It was delicious. The Sister Training Leader and I went on splits with was Sister Roy, who is pretty awesome by the way.  It was really nice to see a different missionary's view and style of missionary work.  I think it was a successful exchange and I learned a lot.  

 

This week has been a week of challenges.  By the end of the week I felt pretty stripped of everything and was left wondering "what are my talents? What has the Lord given me?" It made me realize what (or who) my rock is and the strength the Lord has given me.  This week it hit hard and it made me realize how much I really do rely on the Lord. Anytime anything happens I instantly turn to the Lord for help. He is my strength and my help. I wouldn't be able to do anything without him.

 

So I had my first confrontation with a cockroach in... 6 years.  It was a bit uncertain who was going to make it out alive, but I managed to come out on top.  Yep.  I started spraying it with some Windex and it started running TOWARDS ME!!! Yea, so naturally I freaked out. 

 

If you are ever in Taiwan and hear music, it's NOT the ice cream truck.  It's either the garbage truck or a bread/bakery truck...just FYI.

 

Well, I just want to let you know I LOVE getting letters from you guys :) This week was a pretty crazy week. And yes, mom... you did properly beat that dead horse. (MOM:  I told her that I needed more information that was being provided by her 5-point system of writing) Thank you for the heads up. I hope I have sufficiently repented ;)

 

Also, I've realized that I'm stubborn. I don't know where it came from (cough cough mom and dad)...but I'm pretty stubborn. It really comes out when my companion tells me to do something I really don't want to do...yea...

 

So story time. Saturday I was playing the piano for a baptism and Cai Jie Mei (a lady in our ward who teaches piano...she's the YW president and I think ward choir leader person) comes up to me and demands that I play "True To The Faith" for her. The Branch President asked me to start practicing this song for next Sunday because they're having branch conference or something. So, of course as I'm playing  Cai Jie Mei is watching me I epically fail...naturally. Then she continues (in Chinese) to correct every mistake I made and my tempo and beat and anything else she can correct me on and is talking to me about how it needs to be perfect. Then Zhang Jie Mei (RS president and her 8 year old son usually plays the piano for sacrament meeting comes up and wants me to play it again. Epic fail. Then she starts to tell me how important it is that the song is perfect. Then they get Elder Mansell to play it to see who's better. He does around the same as me. While E. Mansell is playing I extract myself and run to the bathroom...and bawl my eyes out. I really wanted to tell them it didn't matter who was going to be at this conference. Even if the prophet or the Savior was going to be there, I will make mistakes, and they should accept my efforts if I gave my best. AND nobody is going to care or remember in 5 years that I messed up...Chinese people....and if they wanted it played perfectly they should have one of their 8 year old students do it. So after I get control of my faculties and make it look like I wasn't crying I walk out of the bathroom and I was handed a package.  I open it and inside is a beautiful Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie mix...and a note from a beautiful mother who loves me...so naturally I start crying again...in front of everyone. So, just wanted to let you know you made my week..my month.  

 

The next day I felt better, but I was a little raw. Well, that's about it for this week! Hope everyone's week has been good! Love you all!

 

Yu Jie Mei

 

 

Exchanges!

 

 

Monday, November 10, 2014

This week was the week for really interesting food.... but I ate them anyways because it's all part of the experience :)
Last Monday I got bread, milk (soy, because regular is too expensive) and  I made french toast this week!!! Yep, it was SO delicious...we didn't have any syrup so I just put jelly on it. Also, I found Digestives (a British cookie type thing) at the store :) They made me so happy :)

   I've been studying the missionary purpose and I've come to realize over the past couple weeks that we as missionaries are here for the elect, prepared people.  There were a lot of people who died as investigators this week and who just didn't want to listen.  Yes it makes me want to cry, but I just keep reminding myself that I'm not here for them.  I might just be planting another seed for someone else to find, but I'm here to find those who ARE ready. ready to accept the blessings God has for them, which they can receive through baptism.  Over the past four months I've come to realize how important the basics are.  Families...I've come to realized more fully why they are the center to Christ's gospel. Prayer, scripture study, faith, repentance...these are the basics.  This is how we truly know God exists and loves us and how we grow closer to Him.

   This week was my 1 month follow up meeting.  It was so nice to see everyone from my "generation" meaning everyone I came to Taiwan with, in my MTC zone and district.  It was so great to see their faces again and talk to them about the struggles of being a new missionary and learning the new language.  It reminded us that the struggles we're going through are normal.  Everyone else is struggling with the same things and we're not alone.  One thing that stuck out to me was that we talked about Remembering the Savior.  Christ was the perfect missionary, and yet people still left.  He was the perfect example, and people still rejected Him.  When we're having a rough time in life and we don't think we can make it, when people reject us and spit on us (literally and metaphorically) we're shoulder to shoulder with the greatest life that ever lived. Rely on the Savior and Remember Him. He can help us through anything. We just have to rely on Him :)

  FOOD!! I've made it one of my mission goals to learn how to make Taiwanese food, especially baozi's (kind of like dumplings, but thicker and more like bread...and steamed)...they are so yummy.  I also tried some of my companion's cow stomach. it looked SO gross, but it just taste like stringy meat.  Fish eyeballs are really hard, and according to the member that fed it to us, the meat around the eye is the best (after she extracted some and stuck it in my face for me to eat).  I also had pancakes this week with sasame seed jelly on it.  It was this black paste stuff, and I was a bit skeptical,  but it actually tasted really good on the pancakes.

So I've decided I'm kind of like a cat.  I can and will fit into small spaces and just stay there for a while and after a while I'll feel comfortable, but when I'm out of that space and am finally able to stretch I realize how it wasn't comfortable at all...I'm pretty good at adapting to new situations and people, but when I'm with people who get me and who I miss and get along with I realize how much better it could be.  But this week I'm going to work on enjoying the journey and making the situation fun.  I'm going to try to be the best me this week...if that makes any sense.

EVERYONE GIVES US FRUIT!!! We stop to talk to people and they try to give us fruit.  So we have a lot of fruit right now ;) Or they try to buy you lunch...that happened yesterday.  We were sitting on some stones planning a lesson when this guy in a wheel chair told us he wanted to get us a drink.  We tried to tell him no but he ignored us...then he came back with a bottle of tea for each of us... -_-

We have an investigator who has like 7 sugar gliders...they are SO ADORABLE!!! and cute and fluffy...I want to die.

We were getting lunch the other day and I only had a 1000 (TWD) bill on me and the meal was only 100, so I gave it to him and said I was sorry but that was all I had.  He looked at my companion shocked and said, "She just spoke Chinese"

This is where I'm supposed to be. I just tell myself that every day.  I'm not sure why yet, but I know I'm supposed to be here.  I wouldn't have been sent here if I wasn't supposed to be here. 

It's so nice to hear how everyone's doing.  I love you all so much and pray for you all! Keep up the good work!

4 MONTHS BABY!!! I've been on my mission for 4 months. where has the time gone?! Last time I checked I barely got here.

Well, that's about it.  Hope everyone has a good week ;) LOVE YOU!

Yu Jie Mei

the first one is me eating cow stomach...
and the next is my 4 month picture ;)

Four months as a missionary!

Tasting cow stomach

Fun pipes to take pictures in.

Snazzy helmet.

Monday, November 3, 2014

So I've decided to consolidate my weekly letter to 5 main points for the week :) so, lets see how this goes.

1. People have their agency.  It's hard to accept the truth sometimes.  You have to fight really hard for your investigators, and even then they may stop.  We had two people die (fizzle out) as investigators this week...RIP until the right person comes along ;)

2. With all the biking I'm doing I'm going to have FANTASTICALLY  sculpted legs...but with all the grease and fat that is in the food I'm going to get fat...so we'll see.

3. Some funny things from the week
A. I've found out how to tell if someone is drunk.  They start speaking to me in English.  Sometimes really bad English (probably what my Chinese sounds like) One of them kept praying and playing the guitar and he kept telling us he knows he's not supposed to drink, but God told him it was okay...hmmm

B. On every moped there's either a dog or a little kid between their legs.  They just have these huge dogs sit or stand between their legs while they're going 100 miles an hour.

C. In English we say "yea" or "mmhmm" when we're having a conversation as a sign that we agree...In Taidong since they have a lot of Tai yu influence they say, "hey" which is yes or afirmative in Tai yu. Talking to people is really distracting because they'll say, "heyheyhey"  a LOT.

4. God has people prepared for us and it's our job to find them.  PERSEVERANCE! We're looking for the ones who are searching for the truth, wanting to change their lives; not the ones who slam the door in our faces.  It's definitely been a learning experience.  The language is coming SO SLOW!!! but it's coming.

5. Miracle Sunday! We had one of our investigators come to church!!! The sacrament meeting consisted of people bearing testimony about how they came to know God exists and the Book of Mormon is true :) We also found a new investigator.  We had been knocking on doors to no avail and talking to people..no luck.  The last door we knocked on had a girl who was Christian, she reads and prays pretty much every day, and she accepted baptism. YES!

Well, that's about it for this week! have an amazing week everyone :)

Yu Jie Mei

Look at the black sign in back of her.

Sisters Fisher and Chu

Apparently she's showing us her food but she didn't tell me what it was.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Hallo!!! From Taiwan to you :)

I hope everyone is having a fantastic fall...full of cool breezes and changing colors :) It's pretty much one temperature here, and that's hot...and it's not even summer. We had a lot of miracles this week and have a lot of investigators.  We have 3 with a baptismal date. Now we just have to not let any of them fall through the cracks :)

1. Wednesday we were crossing a bridge and I heard this whirring sound.  I look over to see these cows hearded by a remote control airplane. The old farmer was just standing on the sideline in ease. Briliant!

2. People here don't ever tell you they're just not interested.  They'll tell you they have no time, or really busy, or maybe another time.  They won't give you a strait up NO. I kind of wish they would, but it's just part of the culture here, so I'm learning to push through it :)

3. The Elders were going to do a service for this lady in our branch.  They get up there only to realize she needs help killing her chickens for sunday...which is against the white handbook.  She gave a pretty good demonstration of killing one by taking butcher knife and SLOWLY slicing through the neck...poor chicken

4. One of our investigators has been spending at least 1 hour EVERY DAY reading the BOM...what?

5. The Lord has a plan for everything.  We went to the train station to be one of the new sister's companion until her companion arrived.  We were going to go out to dinner and then go wait for the other companion to arrive. Unfortunately we couldn't find her for about an hour and a half. After much frustration we finally found her and because her companion was arriving in 10 minutes we just waited at the platform with her.  It was a really good thing we had to stay there because we saw the other companion on the train and were able to get her off...(if that makes any sense).  Even though things may not go our way, no matter how hard we try, we sometimes just need to trust God that he knows what's going on.  We may not understand until afterwards why it was the way it was or why we had to go through that trial.  Pray, and stay close to you Heavenly Father, and everything will be alright :)

 

I hope you are all enjoying the cool weather and getting ready for Halloween :) we won't have a Halloween, but the branch did put us missionaries in charge of a skit for thanksgiving day.  We were thinking about making the white people indians and the other people (natives) be the pilgrims...mix it up a bit ;)

Lastly, I saw something pretty cool this week :) This farmer was herding his two cows with a remote control airplane.  There was some string or something connected to the airplane and he was herding them with the airplane! Why haven't we thought of this before?!

I also met a lady on Saturday who I felt connected to.  She was really listening to me.  She didn't even know who God was.  I asked her if she believed in God and she was like, God? I pointed up to the sky and said, God...she still looked confused so the only thing I could think of was, "God is our Heavenly Father, we are His children."  We're meeting with her tomorrow, so hopefully all will go well.  Also, one of our investigators has been reading the BOM for an hour EVERY DAY!!! We haven't been able to give him the first lesson so he's really confused, but we'll help him get through it :)

Well, that's about it! I hope it starts to cool off soon, I want to enjoy some cool weather before I have to face the brutal summer :)

Love you!
Yu Jie Mei
(fishy sister)